The Ring And Lilo & Stitch Actor Daveigh Chase’s Cause Of Death Was AIDS

Former child actor Daveigh Chase died as a result of AIDS, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has said.

Daveigh was best known for her voice work in projects like Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and the English dub of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, as well as on-screen performances in the horror film The Ring and the psychological thriller Donnie Darko.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that she had died at the age of 35, with AIDS having been named as her cause of death this week.

The coroner also listed “chronic polysubstance use” – the use of multiple drugs – as an “other significant condition” that contributed to Daveigh’s death.

It had previously been reported that Daveigh had died as a result of complications from bacterial meningitis and sepsis.

Daveigh’s father told NBC News that Daveigh, who retired from acting just over a decade ago, had been homeless and living near the Los Angeles hospital where she was admitted and later died.

He claimed she had also been suffering from severe malnutrition when she was admitted to hospital.

In a statement to BBC News shortly after her death, the late actor’s manager remembered Daveigh as “the greatest”.

“She was not very Hollywood,” he recalled. “She’d rather eat at Bob’s Big Boy and go home with the cats. She loved acting but wasn’t into the fame scene.”

Daveigh’s career began with a string of roles in shows like Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Charmed and ER in her younger years, before she was cast as Jake Gyllenhaal’s on-screen sister in Donnie Darko. Her character subsequently landed her own straight-to-video spin-off sequel, titled S Darko.

She also played Samara in The Ring, reprising the role in a 2005 sequel, The Ring and later portrayed Rhonda Volmer in the US drama Big Love, sharing the screen with the likes of Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny and Amanda Seyfried.

Her final on-screen work was in the indie horror Jack Goes Home and the thriller American Romance, after which she took a step back from her acting career.